Triton XXI, Lot: 45. Estimate $3000. Sold for $5500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Trajan. AD 98-117. Æ Drachm (36mm, 24.62 g, 12h). Dated RY 11 (AD 107/108). AVT TPAIAN C ЄB Γ[ЄPM ∆AKIK], laureate and draped bust right / Elpis standing left, holding a lotus blossom with her right hand and raising a fold of her skirt with her left; L I A (date) across field. Köln –; Dattari (Savio) 7020 (this coin); K&G 27.95; RPC III 4218/3 (this coin); Emmett 452.11 (R5); Staffieri, Alexandria In Nummis 50 (this coin). Near EF, attractive brown patina with touches of green. Extremely rare, the authors of RPC cite only three specimens including this coin. Exceptional sculptural portrait.

From the Giovanni Maria Staffieri Collection. Ex Giuseppe Nascia Collection (Milan); Kunst und Münzen AG XXII (2 April 1981), lot 263; Giovanni Dattari Collection, no. 7020.

Of the three examples known, this is the finest, with an amazing high-relief portrait of Trajan, certainly engraved by a master celator.